Airport Authority approves hangar

March 6, 2013

WILLIAMSTOWN -The Wood County Airport Authority of the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport on Tuesday unanimously approved the construction of a new hangar.

Airport manager Terry Moore said he had been speaking with Glenn Hale, a tenant in the hangar, about building a personal hangar on airport property near the AirEvac facility.

"I like this hangar and think it will be very useful for us," Moore said. "I don't see any negatives with this (project)."

The authority, which is the managing arm of the airport, had previously given Hale permission to study the construction. Moore said the proposed hangar is 90-by-81-feet, roughly 7,200 square feet, with a septic system. Electric and water is already available.

Per the agreement, Hale will use the space for his planes on the airport property with a 25-year lease where he will pay for the building for the use of the land.

"He has two planes in hangar 5 that he will move to this new space," Moore said. "I am very confident in this project and the man doing it."

Construction is expected to begin in early April and completed in a month.

"We will lose rent on this and I hate to, but we can't stop progress," Moore said.

Moore also updated the board on the preliminary results of the runway surface area testing performed late last year by firm Baker Engineering.

The company used older data and geotechnical engineering services to show what is underneath the surface asphalt of the airport's tarmac.

"They found no crushed aggregate under the runways, taxiways or aprons and it was supposed to be everywhere, which is kind of a surprise," Moore said. "That means that the company that did the original runway more than 30 years ago either did not put it down or it somehow disappeared."

Authority president Bill Richardson said that runways have many layers.

"They are like pie where the top is asphalt, then the old runway is concrete, aggregate and then the clay/soil/rock," Richardson said.

Moore said the problem with not having aggregate over the clay or soil is that moisture collects.

"We are looking at moisture issues without it, so I'm surprised there haven't been more problems," he said.

According to the preliminary results, there are no indications of stress on the runways from heavier aircraft.

"Our runways are in better shape than expected with no stress indicated from heavier (larger) planes that either land here or do touch-and-goes," Moore said.

Baker Engineering recommended five phases of repairs and fixes, beginning with doing the runway and alpha taxiway with crack sealant and regular repairs.

"As this goes down, this will be our projects over the next few years," Moore said. "There is no way over the next 10 years we will be able to afford $18 million in the runway."